Geek Pride Day

Quick Facts

Learn about Geek Pride Day

Some people are old enough to remember when being called a geek was derogatory and meant that you were probably pale, non-athletic, wore thick glasses, had almost no friends, and were only good at activities that could be done indoors on a chair in your underwear. Thankfully, the word “geek” has evolved greatly over the years, and now usually means a person who is fascinated with a certain complicated subject—be it mathematics, video games, fantasy literature, science fiction films or one of many others—and knows almost everything there is to know about it. That actually sounds pretty cool, doesn’t it? So why not celebrate all of the geeks in this world this Geek Pride Day?

History of Geek Pride Day

The idea for dedicating a day to celebrating geekiness originated in Spain in 2006 when Spanish blogger Germán Martínez, who chose the day to coincide with the 1977 release of Star Wars. Geek Pride Day spread rapidly across the internet and, soon after, the world, drawing attention from mainstream media as well.One of the events organized to celebrate this day was in Madrid when 300 geeks played a game of a human Pacman together. A list of the basic rights and responsibilities of geeks was also written up. The rights include “The right to not like football or any other sport” and “The right to not be “in-style””, and the responsibilities include “Attend every geeky movie on opening night and buy every geeky book before anyone else”.

2008 was the first year when Geek Pride Day was officially celebrated in the U.S., and one year latery 2009, news of the day had reached the Science Channel, that decided to take part in the celebration by airing special programming on May 25th. In 2010, Geek Pride Day spread even further, to countries like Canada, Hungary, Israel and Romania, a Geek Pride parade was held in Gothenburg, Sweden in 2013.

How to celebrate Geek Pride Day

If you identify as a geek, this day is your day to show the world how proud you are to have interests and hobbies that are truly important to you. With Geek Pride Day celebrations being held in quite a few countries around the world, why not take part in one? Over the past few decades, geeks may have often felt a little alienated from their peers because they had different skills and interests, making a Geek Pride Day celebration the perfect time to meet plenty of like-minded people who don’t think that watching Firefly until you know every scene by heart is odd.

If you can’t attend a Geek Pride Day celebration or just feel it’s not your scene, inviting a few fellow geeks over to your house for an all-geek party could prove a really great time as well. From re-watching Star Wars for the umpteenth time to a good old game of Dungeons and Dragons to trading limited edition collectibles, your little get-together is sure to be a celebration of your collective geekiness. If you’re feeling particularly brave, you could try to share your love for a certain subject with your significant other or a friend. Chances are he or she will not be anywhere as enthusiastic about it as you are, but who knows—maybe your efforts will result in Geekdom gaining another citizen? Stranger things have happened!